flstandardbreds Chapter 1030 Recovery of Stolen Goods and On-Site Identification
Chapter 1030 Recovery of Stolen Goods and On-Site Identification
Memories flooded back: the moment the iron bar smashed open the drawer, wood chips flew everywhere; blood-stained fingers greedily grabbed the wallet, the smell of ink from the hundred-yuan bills mixed with the stench of blood assaulting the nostrils; the icy touch of the bank card came from the fingertips, as if grasping a rope to escape the abyss.
"He desperately protected the drawer..." Zhao Gang suddenly burst into a maniacal laugh, his laughter tinged with sobs. "I hit him a couple more times... and blood started flowing from his ear, drip, drip..." His voice trailed off, his Adam's apple bobbing as if he were swallowing the thick, warm liquid again. A sudden, muffled clap of thunder outside the window startled him, causing him to tremble violently and stumble, knocking over a chair beside him.
Many residents of the community, upon learning that Zhao Gang had come to identify the scene, gathered downstairs to watch. Angry whispers arose from the crowd: "This kind of person should be sentenced to death!" "Poor Old Li, honest his whole life, yet he suffered such a cruel fate." These voices were like thorns piercing Zhao Gang's heart, causing his body to tremble uncontrollably.
After the identification process, Zhao Gang was escorted away. He glanced back at the house filled with bloody memories, his eyes filled with regret and despair. Awaiting him was a just trial by the law. The police car slowly drove away from the residential area, and Li Baocun's door closed again, but the pain inflicted by this case would take a long time to heal.
Although the case had ended, the Criminal Investigation Division was still dealing with a constant stream of cases. At 3:17 AM, three days after the initial investigation, Li Ming's phone vibrated wildly on the metal cabinet in the duty room, the blue light from the screen illuminating his just-closed eyes. In the recorded emergency call, Li Li's shrill, tearful voice cried out, "Blood is flowing out from under the door! Brother Zhang always locks the door, but this time it was wide open..."
As the siren pierced the night rain, Li Ming's knuckles turned white as he gripped the steering wheel. In the rearview mirror, Xiao Yang was filling the investigation kit with selenoprofen, while Xiao Sun was adjusting the multispectral imager; the metal casing gleamed coldly under the police lights on the roof. The streetlights in the industrial area were blurred into hazy spots of light in the rain. The police car sputtered through the puddles, splashing water onto the rusty "Hongfa Machinery" sign—Li Li was a night shift worker there.
The police cordon had just been set up when a strong stench of blood mingled with the rain hit them. Xiao Wang helped the pale-faced Li Li, noticing oil stains on the cuffs of her work pants. "When was the last time you saw Zhang Bing?" she asked. "Yesterday evening during shift change, he rode his electric scooter saying he was going to buy instant noodles." Li Li's teeth chattered, her nails digging deep into her palms. "He usually brings me breakfast after his night shift, but this morning he didn't come. I knocked on the door, but no one answered..."
As Li Ming stepped across the threshold, the rubber soles of his shoes crunched over shards of glass. The living room ceiling light shattered, the remaining bulb swaying in the wind and rain, cutting the pool of blood into stripes of light and shadow. Xiao Sun's laser rangefinder swept red light across the wall, revealing a three-meter-high splatter of blood distributed in a fan shape, the blood droplets at the edges gleaming a bluish hue under the luminol. "Arterial splatter, blood loss exceeding 2000 milliliters." He crouched down, using tweezers to pick up half a tooth covered in bits of flesh. "The murder weapon was a high-quality blunt instrument."
Xiao Yang's metal detector suddenly emitted a sharp beep. He knelt down in the carpet, where the bloodstains were not yet completely dry, and used the probe to dig out half of a broken keychain—a silver bear pendant engraved with "2023.6.18". "The victim's right third finger bone was fractured, and skin tissue was extracted from under the fingernail." He held up the evidence bag, and in the flashlight beam, the dark red tissue intertwined with the carpet fibers to form a strange pattern. "There are obvious signs of a struggle; the murderer grappled with the victim for at least three minutes."
Li Li suddenly grabbed Xiao Wang's arm: "Oh, right! Around 2 a.m., I heard a heavy object fall to the ground in the workshop. I thought it was a machine malfunction!" She took out her phone, and the call log showed that she had called Zhang Bing at 2:17 a.m., but no one answered. "He usually answers even when he's busy..." Her voice trailed off, and she looked in horror toward the bedroom—from where Xiao Sun was gasping for breath.
The moment Li Ming rushed into the bedroom, the stench of blood was almost suffocating. Zhang Bing lay supine in front of the wardrobe, the wound on his neck deep enough to expose the bone, his right hand clutching half a yellowed photograph. Xiao Yang put on gloves and gently pried open the fingers; in the photograph, a young Zhang Bing was embracing a woman in a wedding dress, the watermark "2010.5.20" faintly visible through the bloodstains on the back. "All of the deceased's belongings are missing—phone, wallet, keys," Xiao Sun raised his investigation lamp; the hidden compartment at the bottom of the wardrobe was open, "the safe in this location had been forcibly opened."
At 6:15 a.m., Li Ming's leather shoes crunched over the loose tiles in the stairwell, making a crisp sound. He pushed open the ajar wooden door of room 302, and the smell of disinfectant mixed with rust hit him. Xiao Wang helped the complainant, Li Li, lean against the wall; the machine oil stains on her work pants gleamed yellowish in the morning light: "I saw blood seeping through the door when I got off work at 5 a.m. Brother Zhang always locks the door three times..."
Li Ming crouched down, his fingertips tracing the congealed bloodstains on the threshold, which appeared as dark red droplets. "Xiao Yang, Xiao Sun, focus on surveying the entrance area." Before he finished speaking, the two had already filed in, carrying their survey kits. Xiao Sun took out a multispectral imager, and a green laser beam swept across the ground. Immediately, pale blue fluorescent footprints appeared in the entryway—three size 42 sneaker prints arranged in a fan shape, with the diamond-shaped pattern on the soles clearly visible.
"The footprints are well-preserved, with obvious stamping movements." Xiao Yang held up a ruler to measure. "The stride is 75 centimeters, with heavy footfalls and light lifts, consistent with the characteristics of a young male." He switched to ultraviolet mode, and the fluorescent residue on the edges of the shoe prints indicated that the perpetrator had previously used chemical reagents in other areas. Xiao Sun simultaneously activated the 3D laser scanner, and the red grid created a real-time model of the scene, accurately capturing even the 0.3-millimeter blood droplets on the wall.
The pool of blood in the center of the living room had turned dark brown. Xiao Sun used a laser rangefinder to pinpoint the origin of the splatter: "Splatter angle 45 degrees, source height 1.6 meters, consistent with blunt force trauma to the carotid artery." He picked up half a tooth with tweezers; the remaining pulp tissue at the root trembled slightly on the slide. "The weapon's contact surface is rough, with irregular protrusions." Xiao Yang found half a keychain at the edge of the blood pool; skin tissue was embedded in the scratches on the silver bear pendant. "DNA rapid test ready, number CS-20240709-01."
On the brass doorknob of the bedroom door frame, Xiao Sun gently swept his magnetic powder across, and a complete whorl-shaped fingerprint gradually appeared. "The lines are clear, with a variation of the loop pattern in the triangular area." He carefully extracted it using an electrostatic adsorption film; the lines on the transparent tape looked like a spider web under a magnifying glass. "There are calluses on the edge of the fingertip, possibly indicating manual labor." Xiao Yang, meanwhile, was leaning over the wardrobe, his investigation light illuminating Zhang Bing's clenched right hand: "The fourth finger joint is dislocated, and there are skin fragments under the nail; be careful to preserve its original state."